Loftwings and Riders: A Basic Guide
by Shadsie
Summary: Alternately: Loftwings for Dummies: A Guide for the Rest of Us. A speculative textbook-style basic guide to the history, riding and care of Skyloft's favorite featured bond-creatures. Learn how to care for your bird for a happy lifelong partnership.
1. History, Chromatic Variation and Calling

_Disclaimer and Notes: The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. This is non-canon and no profit is being sought. _

_I saw the listing for "Loftwings" on the character-selection on The Fanfiction Network and saw no entries for it. This, combined with a desire to know more about the species led me to want to make up a bunch of stuff and create a speculative textbook-style guide for Skyloft knight-students and/or newcomers to the city. _

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><p><strong>LOFTWINGS AND RIDERS:<strong>

**A Basic Guide to Skyloft Bird-Riding Culture**

Complied by Professors Owlan and Horwell of the Skyloft Knight Academy

(Published by Shadsie Press)

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><p><strong>Part I: History, Chromatic Variation and the Calling <strong>

While the natural history and evolutionary path of the Loftwing is unknown, the partnership between the species and the human race is an ancient and noble tradition. Ever since there have been islands floating in the sky above the Sea of Clouds, men and women have partnered with the birds of the air. To become one half of a whole is to come of age and marks the beginning of adulthood. It is when someone is between the ages of ten and twelve years that their personal Loftwing comes to them, although there is the occasional late-bloomer or early-riser. Some have waited as long as age fifteen before procuring their birds. A few have received their mounts as early as age eight. The readiness of a rider is apparently determined by the Loftwing alone.

Loftwings, themselves, are said to be divine birds – a creation of the Goddess to aid us in living and to give us the joy of partnership. Some compare being chosen by their birds to marriage, although one does not ever need to marry to enjoy the sacred companionship of a Loftwing.

An ancient legend among the islands speaks of the great birds being the mounts of ancient spirits and gods themselves. The tale speaks of a Crimson Loftwing as the chosen mount of the Goddess in the days when she first protected the world from Evil and created Skyloft for her people. It is for this reason that Crimson Loftwings are considered particularly auspicious. According to legend, any person they choose to be their partner will have an exciting and historically-significant life.

All is not necessarily completely good for the chosen of a Crimson, however, as it is also said that their life of destiny will come with much suffering. This echoes back to the myth of the Hero, whom the Goddess' Crimson Loftwing allowed to ride in the fight against the great Darkness. In the conclusion of the myth, the Goddess' Chosen Hero saved Her people, but himself died protecting them – therefore being chosen by a Crimson bird is thought to be a mixed-blessing, whether one believes in the myth or not.

Crimson Loftwings, with their strong, intimidating presence, are said to come only to the bravest of riders. History gives us stories of Crimsons choosing a young rider only to leave him or her after a week's time out of apparent displeasure. Such youths had to wait another year for a bird of a different color to come to them or remain partner-less for the rest of their lives. While a cruel fate, indeed, such was said to be the price of being chosen by the most stunning of birds in the sky: Show the Crimson Loftwing your courage. If your courage is wanting, you are not worthy of the breed that was once the Goddess' own.

The old tales aside, those that have studied the Crimson Loftwings (thought to be extinct until rediscovered in the Year 1010 SR.) have noted traits of swiftness, strength and aggressiveness beyond other breeds of Loftwing. There is also a known ability in this breed to dip very close to the edge of the Sea of Clouds when other birds spook.

Birds of various other colors are said to come to different riders based upon a correlation between the color of the bird and the temperament of the human, but research into this is inconclusive.

While Crimson Loftwings are said to come to the especially brave, Black Loftwings are said to come to those with strong emotion, Blues are said to come to those with creative traits and spiritual aptitude, Yellows are said to come to those with a cheerful disposition, Grays are supposed to come to warriors, Browns to earthy-types with steady hearts, Greens to people with analytical minds, Pinks and Purples to romantics, and etc.

Again, more research is yet to be done, but those are the legends.

**Next Section: Riding and Stance. **


	2. Riding and Stance

_Notes: Yes, I did play with my Wii for a few hours the day before writing this with the primary intention of "Make Link fly and watch his position and how he moves with his bird." I did quite a bit of this observation before going to beat the stuffing out of a multi-armed brass statue (yay Ancient Cistern on Hero Mode). Yes, Link really does have this weird crouching position when he flies in case you haven't been paying attention. _

_After purposefully diving off cliffs a few times, I also noticed that most (if not all?) of the Skyloft Rescue Knights pilot gray birds. I was basing my "Grays go to warriors" after seeing a shot of Eagus on one on Zelda Wiki, but it looks like my assumption really worked out there. Grays being soldier-birds made sense to me. _

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><p><strong>LOFTWINGS AND RIDERS:<strong>

**A Basic Guide to Skyloft Bird-Riding Culture**

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><p><strong>Part II: Riding and Stance <strong>

When children make their first bonds with their birds, there are no rules to mounting and riding. When a Loftwing chooses a partner, the bird will stay with their charge for a few days, following him or her around ground-borne and sleeping outside the family home until the fateful moment comes when the two develop enough trust in one another that the bird crouches down to allow the child onto its back for the First Flight. Occasionally, this happens within the first day and, much rarer, within the first hours or minutes.

First Flights are often clumsy, but there are no fatalities or even injuries from a First Flight on record. However, it is not uncommon for a child to come back from their First Flight whimpering and crying in fear. While it is common for parents to take their young children with them on their Loftwings for short flights and small errands, to fly alone is a very different experience. Bolder children often find their First Flight thrilling and joyous. New riders will be allowed to ride freely for three or four flights in order to develop the Loftwing-Rider bond. These flights are characterized by ignorance and instinct. The child will inevitably just clamber up to sit upon the bird's neck with his or her legs dangling over the edges of where the wings join the body and will either sit there like a sack of rocks or will splay themselves out flat against the bird's back, holding the neck-feathers or even the skin of the poor animal in a grip-for-dear-life. While this is tolerable while a rider's body is still small, such methods of riding will become dangerous for their bird as they grow, which is why training at the Knight Academy happens early-on.

Not everyone who attends the Skyloft Knight Academy becomes a knight (and not everyone wishes to) – but our institution is responsible for training all of the young people in Skyloft the proper riding and care of their avian partners. Only those who continue with us and choose to enroll in the Knighting Program have the chance to become knights - the rest receive the basic education, which, unlike the Knighting Program, is free to all new bird-riders. Some of our senior knight-students assist in the basic educational program, particularly those in the veterinary side-program.

These are the young knights responsible for wrestling uncooperative birds into a passive position to be fitted with their first riding-belts. The riding-belt is an essential tool of the Loftwing-pilot as it allows one to grip fast to one's mount without causing discomfort to the animal. Loftwings belonging to nervous children are often nervous themselves and require some rather harsh assistance to be fitted with a belt. Birds belonging to children with calm or particularly brave dispositions may be fitted with no trouble. The belts occasionally need to be adjusted if the bird has any change in size, but as only adult Loftwings choose riders and they rarely have any dramatic gains or losses in weight (such a thing is cause for taking one's bird in for veterinary attention), belts rarely need to be re-fitted. Many adult and young adult riders, after having built trust with their mounts, will swap out the bird's first belts for something custom-made to fit their own sense of fashion. If you see a bird in the skies above or beyond you that winks a little in the sun, that's a bird with a custom belt of metal or lined with gems. Some of Skyloft's wealthier residents enjoy showing off their status in how they dress their birds.

Once a bird has been belted, a young person can then learn proper riding-stance. These lessons begin with the ground-borne position – that is, the bird must have landed and then must be signaled to crouch down by its rider. The rider is then shown the proper way to grip the belt. After that, the rider is told to stand in a crouching position, as follows:

Both hands on the belt (base of the bird's neck). Knees in. The toes and the balls of one's feet perched upon the bird's back, as close to the edges of the wings as possible and to the sides, not to the center.

If that sounds like an uncomfortable position, that's because it is, but it is a position that puts the least stress upon the Loftwing. It keeps one's center of gravity in line with the bird's when it is in flight and spreads out one's body-weight. While a person weighs the same no matter what position he or she is in, a rider in the crouched position actively carries some of his or her own weight and distributes it over a wider area. If one is sitting on one's bird as one would in a chair, the full weight of the body would be centered upon a single area, putting stress upon that part of the bird's spine. This makes the rider more difficult for the bird to carry.

Long ago, people used to craft saddles for use on Loftwings like those which were used on the ancient animal species known as the "horse." It is said that our ancestors once rode horses on the larger islands and they play a role in the legends about the Surface. The horse was a ground-borne quadruped animal roughly the size of a Loftwing without the wings, but quite a bit weightier. Men would sit upon their backs, though some would use a jouncing technique in time with the animal's pace. Saddles did not work well for Loftwings precisely because of the problems inherent in the rider sitting in one place. Early experiments with reins did not work well, either, given the nature of the Loftwing's beak, which would either sever the lines or be damaged by the metal bit.

The crouched position of the rider with his or her hands on the riding-belt is the optimal position for working with a Loftwing. Crouching allows the feet to gain a firm grip into the bird's sides. Leaning one way while gently tugging on the riding-belt encourages the Loftwing to move in that direction. If the Loftwing moves independently, due to danger or a change in the air-current, the crouched position allows the rider to lean into the bird's turn. To change altitude, all a rider has to do is to tug up on the belt to indicate a desire to ascend and to press down onto the bird's neck to indicate a desire to descend. To slow one's animal; a rider is to pull back sharply on the belt. Do not worry; this does not hurt the bird, though it may surprise it a little. Speeding up is a matter of digging one's toes into the bird's sides, both feet at once, and issuing a little call – "Hiya!"

This is all in addition to the vital telepathic/emphatic connection, of course. Master bird-riders and use their minds and hearts alone to ride their bird. Some have even mastered the art of balance and can stand upright on the back of their personal Loftwing when the air is gentle.

There is also the technique of the spin-attack, but that is only taught to Knight Academy students who are on the cusp of full-knighthood and is one of the last tests they must pass to achieve the title and their lifelong jobs as protectors. The spin-attack flight-style is necessary for fending off certain kinds of air-borne monsters and is particularly dangerous because it involves the bird doing a swift barrel-roll maneuver. Even expert knights have slipped from their birds and have fallen to their deaths while employing it in battle. Every decade or so, one of our students will be tragically lost in the training exercises or final test. It can be dangerous for the Loftwing, as well – a few birds have cracked their skulls open doing a spin-attack into a rock, requiring standby-rescue for their riders. Once the move is enacted, it cannot be pulled out of. In the year 1008 SR, the Skyloft Knight Academy lost both a student and his bird in training. The bird was injured and the boy got his hand caught in the riding-belt. They both fell below the clouds. Names are not listed here out of respect, but Sir Eagus has a record of every fallen Skyloft Knight, including students who died trying for knighthood. As such, the technique for training one's bird to spin-attack is a secret teaching. It is far too dangerous for the civilian rider to even attempt.

Cliff-mounting is an essential move for every knight student to learn. It is also the preferred method of mounting for civilian bird-riders. While Loftwings can be mounted and dismounted on the ground, it is far easier on them (and far more exhilarating!) to mount from a dock. This is where the emphatic connection between bird and rider becomes most vital. A rider should never leap off a dock if he or she does not sense his or her bird in the skies nearby. If the bird is far away, it will not catch the rider in time. Once one hits the Sea of Clouds one is lost and, as far below as it is, it is roughly a five-minute-fall. While birds can sense their riders nearby, every rider has a whistle-call for his or her bird. This signals to one's bird that one has jumped and is ready.

The thrill of a mount swooping up to catch you! Those that have tried this method almost never go back to cumbersome ground-borne mounting. Trust is high between Loftwing and rider when this becomes a regular method.

Many riders, too, have opted for the aerial-dismount. This is the preferred technique of Skyloft Knights as they have won their place and have earned their Sailcloths in the Wing Ceremony. Underclassmen knight students and civilians very often craft their own sailcloths so that they might use this technique. The dismount is very simple – one flies their bird low over the patch of ground they want to land on, then, steadying oneself, gets out of the crouch and jumps. Some people keep their sailcloths in their pockets and can reach for them readily, others choose to take the cloth out while they are still riding to hold in one hand before jumping for an easy-unfurl. The cloth catches the air and rider drifts down.

Learning to ride one's Loftwing is more a matter of practice than in straight instruction. Happy Flying!

**Next Section: Diet, Grooming and First-Aid **


	3. Diet, Stabling, Grooming and First Aid

_I've read that the shoebill – the kind of bird that Loftwings are based upon, are carnivores that feed primarily on aquatic-based life, frogs, fish, baby crocodiles…Since Skyloft doesn't have much in the way of the shoebill's native-African prey items, I tried to come up with what I thought would be a reasonable diet. As such, I've added a bit of variety since I think it would be easier for Skyloft residents to give their birds plant-based food. I also took creative liberties in regards to "other islands" out there in the great big sky just because it's hard for me to see Skyloft, as small as it is, as being able to maintain the population and the general lifestyle that it does without some outlying production help. My friend, Sailor_Lilithchan, gave me the idea about the old school tannery. _

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><p><strong>LOFTWINGS AND RIDERS:<strong>

**A Basic Guide to Skyloft Bird-Riding Culture**

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><p><strong>Part III: Diet, Stabling, Grooming and First Aid <strong>

The diet of a Loftwing can be varied and dependent upon the individual. Loftwings are omnivores, but the intake of wild and free-flying birds has been found to be principally carnivorous. The bulk of the diet is monster-flesh. Free-flying keese and stone-rooted octorocks are favorite meals as well as any larger monsters they can find.

If one is out flying and comes near to an octorock's perch, be assured that the creature is less afraid of you than of your Loftwing. The spitting of stones is a self-defense behavior.

A few Loftwings have been known to pick off unwary flying remlits. Most riders discourage this in their birds as remlits are favored pets for Skyloft's children. Ranchers on the islands to the west take special precautions to protect the flocks of goats and herds of cattle (that provide milk, meat and wool in trade to us) from hungry wild Loftwings.

A Loftwing is certainly capable of killing and devouring a human with ease, however, this has never happened. We praise the Goddess for giving them to us as guardians, for if they had no bonds to us and behaved as natural predators, our kind would not have lasted long upon the islands.

Loftwings are capable of subsisting on plant-based material if they are given supplements. Loftwings kept in stables are generally fed a grain-mash, minced giant mushrooms and fresh pumpkin. All Loftwings seem to enjoy whole pumpkins given as treats.

Free-flying Loftwings are capable of feeding themselves. It is only stabled birds that require humans to prepare their meals.

Most Loftwings roost and sleep on the various small off-islands, but there are many reasons for some people to keep their birds stabled. Injured and sick birds are restricted to the veterinary stables by default until they are deemed well. Our older citizens (with older birds) often keep their partners in Skyloft's stables because cliff-mounting has become too difficult upon both the aged rider and the aged bird and it is the best way to keep bird and rider near each other.

Night-flying patrol-knights keep their Loftwings stabled because the birds have to keep trained to a differing schedule to their natures. The doors to the night-watch Loftwing stables are kept closed during the day in order to keep them nice and dark to encourage the birds to sleep. That way, when they are brought out at sunset, they are rested and able to be fitted with their nighttime gear. Night-watch Loftwings, by default, are not free-flying since they would quickly revert to their natural daytime schedule if they were not kept in an artificial night during the day. Some say that this is hard on the birds, but is an unfortunate necessity and a few birds do have a natural favor toward evening. Many a sleepwalker of Skyloft has had the night-flying Rescue Knights to thank for saving their lives.

Loftwing stables are a terrible chore to clean. The task is delegated to the individual riders of the stabled animals and to first-year Knighting Program-students in the case of the veterinary stables. The birds defecate often and the character of their droppings is liquid and runny, not unlike that of their distant cousin-species, the cuccoo. Stables are lined with wood-chippings and dried grass to absorb excretions. This bedding must be pitched-out and changed on a daily basis. Droppings and soiled bedding are gathered for weekly transport to a leather-tannery island in the far east, where people make use of the droppings in the processing of hides from the livestock-islands to make our riding belts, knights' gauntlets and many other useful items. Skyloft is usually upwind of this island, but on days when we are downwind are ones that are not soon forgotten.

Grooming is generally not an issue for riders, since Loftwings are good at taking care of themselves. Roosted Loftwings can often be seen preening. The only time when grooming becomes essential is when a bird encounters any kind of oily or sticky substance. The feathers can then be cleaned with a damp cloth and gentle combing. Very rarely, a gentle, fruit-oil or vinegar-based de-greaser may be employed if an animal has become especially dirtied. Generally, such advanced soiling only happens to especially aged and ill Loftwings that have become so weak as to lose their ability to preen or birds that have fallen victim to the defensive-behavior of certain kinds of monsters. Chu-chu grease can be especially tough to get out of the face-feathers if one's Loftwing has been making a habit of dining on the creatures.

The spores of a species of giant mushroom that grows commonly upon the islands are the best general first-aid medicine for Loftwings. It is this same species of mushroom from which we derive general-aid potions for human beings, the difference being that potion for people comes from the caps and stems of the fungi and must be heavily boiled and rendered to be of any use to us. The birds make use of the spores, in raw form, to ease aching muscles, to give them pep and to staunch bleeding from any open wound or scrape.

Mushroom-spores are not a cure-all, of course, but a general aid. They will not heal a broken wing or leg or anything similarly serious, though, even in such cases, a bird may be given spores as a painkiller.

Signs of internal sickness in a Loftwing are listlessness, a preference for staying upon the ground, pacing, dripping from the eyes, and a failure to preen or balding from the bird ripping out its own feathers. Birds that are diseased or suffering from internal parasites generally make their pain very clear. Riders, through the empathic connection, will often feel ill, themselves, with no explanation, if their avian partner has contracted an illness. People with especially strong bonds to their birds tend to catch anything amiss very early on.

Any injury or sickness that cannot be helped readily by feeding one's Loftwing a bottle full of mushroom-spores should be attended to by a professional knight with veterinary training.

There have been a few cases in our history in which birds and riders with particular disabilities have been accommodated or have found ways to work around their handicaps. There are tales of Loftwings too injured to fly whose riders accepted the ground borne life and there are tales of humans too crippled to withstand riding whose Loftwings grounded themselves to stay at their sides. This brings us to the next and final chapter of this Basic Guide:

**Partners in Life and Death **


	4. Partners in Life and Death

**LOFTWINGS AND RIDERS:**

**A Basic Guide to Skyloft Bird-Riding Culture**

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><p><strong>Part IV: Partners in Life and Death <strong>

Ideally, the partnership between a Loftwing and its rider is a lifelong bond. In fact, the natural lifespan of the wild Loftwing is unknown as the only span we've been able to study has been the lives of partnered birds. Birds that remain purely wild vanish from our skies after a number of years. Tagging and tracking individuals for research has only left us with more questions. It is almost as if elder birds without human partners simply vanish into the Goddess' Sacred Realm.

It is theorized that there is an island somewhere that serves as the "Loftwing Graveyard" – where Loftwings go to die - but this is merely speculation, a legend. This mythical island has yet to be discovered by Man and no hard evidence for it exists.

It remains a pretty story told at funerals.

Skyloft has a small cemetery. In it are monuments that visitors from off-island often mistake for individual memorials. Each stone in our graveyard serves as a marker for an entire family or clan. Names are etched into a family's stone when a member of that family passes on. There are remains buried in the cemetery, but they're in small urns of ashes or boxes of bones. Myths about the Surface tell of a time when people were buried – body entire – in the ground, but it has never been able to be done in Skyloft, for the space we have and the depth of our earth are limited.

Most of our citizens die without leaving remains. Some of our number have met death by falling into the Sea of Clouds, but more than that, most opt for a Sky Burial. This kind of funeral is the default for fallen Skyloft Knights.

When a knight or a civilian who has previously made a request for a Sky Burial dies of sickness or accident or some other thing that leaves the loved ones that remain a body to take care of, the Skyloft Knights erect a pyre for them out of any wood or support material available near one of the diving-docks. The deceased is cleaned and dressed in their best – their uniform if they were a knight – and hoisted up onto the pyre. There, below, they that loved them gather, hold service and talk of their good memories. Inevitably, before the sun sets on that day, the Loftwing belonging to the deceased will swoop down and gather the body up in its talons to take off into the sky.

It is said that the Loftwing takes them to the Loftwings' secret graveyard where it, too, dies – beside its human. All that is known for sure is that Loftwings belonging to the dead are never seen again after the funerals.

This is the usual way of things. Loftwings often outlive their riders. It is a gut-wrenching thing to see the Loftwing belonging to a terminally ill person pacing outside their home, calling and crying. If a riders fall from the sky and are lost in the Sea of Clouds, their Loftwings have been known to circle the area where they fell continuously until they exhaust themselves and also fall. All attempts by mounted knights to steer a bereft Loftwing from its vigil have been met with failure. The Skyloft Knights, however, always make the attempt to save the bird.

It is a far worse thing to watch a man lose his Loftwing. Very few, indeed, have ever seen their birds succumb to injury or illness, but when it happens, the former rider is grounded for the remainder of their lives. They often take a feather or two from their fallen bird before the animal is committed to the Sea of Clouds. Bereft riders describe their grief in terms like that of losing a spouse or a child. If they ever need to be taken off-island, they are carried by friends, family, or one of the knights, but it never is the same as riding the skies on their own.

There are a few stories in which a bird and rider have been found in one of the fields of Skyloft, lying still together. It is said that as far as ways go to leave the world, that this is the ideal.

Our legends say that the souls of birds and riders ever fly together in the golden skies of the Sacred Realm. Even those that disbelieve the legends can appreciate the strength of the partnership – longer than a wingspan, deeper than time and vaster than the sky.


End file.
